Roberts told KLAS he'd declined interviews as interest was skyrocketing because he thought if he revealed his identity he might have Federal Bureau of Investigation agents showing up at his door.

"Once it got past 500,000 people that were interested or going, I was just like "the Federal Bureau of Investigation is going to show up to my house" and it got a little spooky from there", he told KLAS-TV. "It was pretty wild".

"It started out as a pure stroke of imagination, something amusing, something cool, but I don't want anyone to get hurt", Roberts said.

Roberts said he came up with the idea for the meme page after podcaster Joe Rogan interviewed Area 51 whistleblower Bob Lazar and filmmaker Jeremy Corbell.

That project, known as Project Blue Book, was actually based out of a facility in OH, far away from Area 51.

Area 51 is the top-secret Air Force facility long associated in the public mind with extraterrestrials and UFOs.

Mr Roberts had previously told National Public Radio (NPR) using the pseudonym Val that he started the Facebook event because he "thought it would be a amusing idea for a meme page".

He didn't realize his comical call to invade one of the most secretive and mysterious locations on Earth would become a rally cry, but after keeping a low profile, Roberts told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas, he never planned on invading the Nevada military base.

The event's creator, Jackson Barnes, also wrote a post on the Facebook page that suggests he's less than serious about the idea.